


Lock Me Out, Let Me In

by KatelFireDemon



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, First Kiss, Fluff, Getting Together, Keith comforting Lance, M/M, Movie Nights, Neighbors, Pining Keith/Lance (Voltron), keith gets locked out, lance is benevolent and lets him stay at his place, soft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-03
Updated: 2020-08-03
Packaged: 2021-03-06 00:34:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,011
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25694356
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KatelFireDemon/pseuds/KatelFireDemon
Summary: Keith moves in with his brother Shiro but keeps getting locked out. Luckily his cute neighbor has a couch he can borrow.
Relationships: Keith/Lance (Voltron)
Comments: 40
Kudos: 248





	Lock Me Out, Let Me In

“Shiro you butt! Wake up and unlock the door!” Keith pounded on the door to the apartment he shared with his brother.

He had sent countless text messages and tried calling him, but Shiro was unfortunately a deep sleeper who also liked to go to bed early. Keith had just gotten home from his first shift at his new bartending job and it was almost two in the morning. He would have felt bad for making such a racket but this was the third time he had gotten locked out since moving in last week and he refused to sleep in the hallway again.

Keith had thought it was going to be a pretty good arrangement living with his brother while he got his bearings in moving to a new place, but the more days went on the more he realized maybe he should have spent that extra money on rent so he could have his own place.

Though to be fair, living with his brother wasn’t the worst. He was a clean roommate, let him do his own thing, and while his boyfriend did stay over sometimes at least the walls were thick enough to block out anything he didn’t want to hear. The only problem was getting locked out. Shiro’s boyfriend, Adam, already had the only extra key to the apartment. It seemed like having a job that kept him out until two was going to be more of a problem than he originally thought if he couldn’t even sleep in his own bed when he got home!

He pounded on the door again. Shiro was going to wake up and let him in whether he liked it or not!

After knocking for another couple minutes, the door opened… But not the one in front of him.

Instead of his apartment door, the one directly next door opened up. The person who opened it was wearing a blue robe with matching slippers. Dark brown hair poked beneath the towel was piled atop his head and his scowling face was covered in a white cream.

He stepped out angrily, punctuating every word with a poke to Keith’s chest, “What! Is! The! Deal! With! Trying! To! Wakeup! The! Entire! Building! At! TWO! IN! THE! FREAKING! MORNING!?!?!?!”

Keith held up his hands pleadingly, too tired for there to be any fight left in him. “I-I was just-”

The man tapped his foot impatiently and crossed his arms waiting for Keith to explain.

Keith let out a tired sigh and spoke. “I-I’m sorry. I just got home from my shift and by brother accidentally locked me out for the third time this week and I’ve been on my feet all day and I just can’t sleep in the hallway again!”

The anger in the other man’s face melted away, replaced by a look of confusion, then shock. “Sleep in the… You’ve slept in the hallway twice this week?!” He suddenly turned around and walked back into his apartment, pausing to look back at Keith and motion for him to follow.

Now it was Keith’s turn to be confused. What was this guy doing?

The man looked exasperated and asked “Are you coming in or not? You can sleep on my couch tonight.”

Keith’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. “But- you don’t even know me.”

He waved his hand dismissively, “Yeah well, I’ve decided to be benevolent tonight. Besides, if your banging on that door for the last half hour didn’t wake Shiro up then nothing will.”

Then he turned and walked into his apartment, leaving Keith to hesitantly follow after him. “Wait, how do you know my brother’s name?” Keith asked, closing the door behind him.

“Uh- he’s my next door neighbor. Duh.” He looked at Keith as if he was stupid before grabbing some blankets and a pillow from a closet and throwing them on the couch against one wall.

“Bathroom’s first door down the hall on the left. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to get my beauty sleep.” And with that he disappeared into the last door in the hallway, leaving Keith to stare after him still trying to process what had just happened.

He looked at the couch. Well, it did look more comfortable than the hallway by far. It probably wouldn’t hurt to stay in this guy’s house for one night. He’d make sure to wake up early and leave before his host woke up. And besides, from taking a look over the room, this guy didn’t seem like a serial killer or anything. There were a ton of cute little knick-knacks on every surface and pictures plastered all over the walls, framed and unframed.

He looked closer at one that must be of this guy and his family. In the picture he was surrounded by people, holding a little boy who was probably a little brother, or maybe a nephew. He had a goofy smile on his face and he was actually… oh… _oh…_ he was … _gorgeous_ … and Keith was _very_ gay…

He shook his head and walked down the hall to the bathroom. He had to get it together. He had just met this guy who was kindly letting him stay the night. Heck! He didn’t even know what his name was!

Opening the bathroom door caused a cloud of steam to billow out, followed by a strong fruity scent. He must have just gotten out of the shower when he came and rescued Keith. He breathed in deeply. The fruity scent of shower products was strong, but it wasn’t overwhelming.

Keith found himself wondering if his host would smell like this. Well duh, Keith thought, that was dumb. Of course he would smell like the products he used.

Keith sighed. He was obviously too tired. He had better hurry up and get to bed.

~

Keith woke up feeling like he had slept better than the past few days. That was probably due to the fact that he had actually slept on something cushier than the floor of the apartment’s hallway.

Keith looked around, his eyes still clouded from sleep. It took a bit to process where he was, but the moment it hit him that he had slept on his neighbor’s couch, whom he had never met before and who was very cute no less, all he wanted to do was sink into the couch and die.

Light streamed through the window. It was probably a lot later in the morning than he had been planning on leaving. He hoped his neighbor (man, he really needed to find out his name) was the kind of person who slept in late.

He got up and folded the blankets he had used and put them and the pillow back into the closet they had been taken from last night. He felt the urge to look at more of the pictures on the wall, but decided against it. He didn’t want to be found and thought of as a nosy neighbor so instead he grabbed his stuff and headed for the door.

He paused at the doorknob. Maybe he should leave a note. After all, his neighbor had rescued him from sleeping in the hallway. He walked around a counter and into the small kitchen. There were probably some sticky notes and a pen somewhere in there.

Something on the kitchen table caught his eye before he had a chance to even start his search. Sitting on the table was a stack of pancakes and a note. The note told him that his neighbor had to leave early for class, had made breakfast for him (hence the stack of pancakes), and asked him to lock up when he left. It was signed with a heart, followed by “Lance” in curly handwriting.

“Lance…” Keith whispered. He glanced at a picture of Lance and a girl who looked a lot like him, which was sitting on the counter. Lance. The name seemed to fit the dark skinned beauty perfectly.

He sat down and ate the pancakes quickly, not realizing how hungry he was after his long shift yesterday. Before he left he washed the dishes he used, wrote “thank you” on the back of the note Lance had written, then made sure to lock the door before he closed it and walked into his own apartment to give Shiro an earful.

~

Two days later Keith found himself banging on his apartment door again. Blast it Shiro! Why couldn’t he just leave their door unlocked?!

Again, there was no answer from Shiro to either the knocking or his calls. Keith found himself glancing at the door next to his, but dismissed the thought as soon as it appeared. He knocked once more, ready to give up for the night when Lance’s door opened.

Lance stepped into the hallway, this time he was wearing sweats and didn’t have anything on his face or a towel on his head. “Locked out again?” He asked.

Keith sighed in defeat, “Yeah.”

Lance motioned for him to come in. “What movie you wanna watch? Weekends are movie night.”

Keith followed him inside and shut the door, a slight smile on his face. “What movies do you have?”

After scrolling through tons of movies on Netflix, Keith finally picked out _The Princess Bride_. He was in the mood for a classic.

“Yes! Good choice. Westley is a hunk in this movie.” Lance commented as he grabbed a blanket tossing part of it over Keith as he plopped down next to him on the couch.

Keith nodded in agreement. Oh, he thought. Lance liked guys… His heart gave a little flutter of excitement. This was getting better and better. His neighbor was an extremely cute, not straight guy, who was kind enough to let him stay on his couch, and who he was currently watching a movie with and sharing a blanket.

Maybe getting locked out a lot wasn’t going to be so bad after all.

~

After that night Lance’s couch practically became Keith’s permanent bed. He would get home from work, try his door, then knock on Lance’s who almost always ended up being awake.

After the first month of sleeping at Lance’s almost every other night, Keith began to just walk into Lance’s apartment after a quick twist of his doorknob to make sure his own door was locked.

He started carrying a pair of pjs and his toothbrush in his work bag.

On the weekends they would watch movies and stay up late talking. On the weekdays when Lance had class early in the morning he would either be getting ready for bed when Keith got there or he’d be sitting on the couch waiting for him to get home (he memorized Keith’s schedule very quickly). Then they’d talk about their days a little while eating the dinner Lance made for them before both going to sleep, Lance in his room, and Keith on the couch.

They fell into a nice rhythm that felt so natural, it was almost weird whenever Keith wasn’t at Lance’s place.

~

“What kind of cereal do you want?” Lance asked Keith grabbing a box of Lucky Charms off the shelf for himself.

It had been almost six months since Keith had moved in with Shiro, and he ate breakfast and dinner at Lance’s place so often that he had started coming grocery shopping with him to help pitch in some money since Lance insisted on feeding him and keeping some of his favorite foods in stock.

“Umm… Let’s go with Raisin Bran this time.” Keith said scanning the shelves.

“Ugh! You have such old person taste in cereal Keith! Last time it was Unfrosted Mini Wheats and this time Raisin Bran! Seriously, you’re practically an old man!” Lance scoffed but grabbed the Raisin Bran anyways.

Keith grinned, “At least I don’t have the cereal taste of a five year old.”

Lance gasped in feigned offence. “I’ll have you know my tastes are very refined! The Queen of England herself probably eats Lucky Charms!”

They both burst into laughter.

A hunched little old lady walked past them. “What a cute couple you are!” She remarked.

Keith and Lance both let out awkward laughs. Keith felt his cheeks heating up.

“Oh we aren’t-”

“We’re not-”

They tried to correct her but she was already on her way and either didn’t hear them or didn’t care.

As they watched her tiny form retreat down the aisle Keith chanced a glance in Lance’s direction, who quickly ducked his head and busied himself rearranging the items in their cart.

Lance gave a nervous chuckle, “Old people are funny huh?”

Not wanting to make Lance feel more awkward Keith quickly agreed, grabbing their cart and pushing it forward to continue down the aisle.

The rest of their shopping trip Keith could hear the old lady’s words bouncing around in the back of his head.

_What a cute couple._

He found himself wishing she was right.

~

“If Adam has the extra apartment key then why doesn’t Shiro just leave the door unlocked for you?” Lance asked one night. “I mean, not that I’m complaining.” He added under his breath.

Keith missed the last part as he shifted his head which was resting on Lance’s lap so he was looking up at Lance while he braided and played with strands of Keith’s hair. “It’s just habit. We lived in a pretty bad area growing up, so we just always kept the door locked, even during the day when we were there. So I don’t really blame him. It would just be nice to have a key so I could actually get into my own apartment without Shiro having to come and let me in every time.” He closed his eyes, enjoying the feeling of Lance’s fingers running through his hair.

“At this point you practically live at my place. I should just give you my extra key.” Lance joked, though Keith opened his eyes in time to see a brief moment of embarrassment on his face. Though what he was embarrassed about Keith had no idea, so he chuckled along.

~

Keith stepped into the apartment, eyes falling upon a frazzled looking Lance.

Lance looked up from the notes he was pouring over at the noise of the door opening. He sat up from his hunched position and stretched his back. “Dinner’s in the fridge. Leftover fajitas from yesterday. How was work tonight?”

Keith dropped his bag by the couch and walked over to the fridge, pulling out the leftovers and plopping them onto a plate to warm up in the microwave. “Ugh, there were some really crappy customers tonight. Totals creeps and bad tippers. Kicked one out for harassing a bunch of girls.”

“Good riddance! Guys like that all deserve to be in jail!” Lance exclaimed, turning back to the notes and textbooks scattered across the table.

Keith hummed in agreement and sat down at the one spot on the kitchen table without any papers. “Test tomorrow?” He asked, digging into his food.

Lance groaned and dramatically threw himself atop his mess of papers. “Midterms. And this one professor hasn’t taught us anything! He expects us to just figure it out ourselves! How am I supposed to teach myself the material, wHEN I DON’T KNOW THE MATERIAL!?!?!”

“Man, professors like that are the worst! Like what’s the point of them being there if they don’t actually teach?”

“Right!?!?” Lance sat up, a paper sticking to his cheek a bit before floating down to the table. Lance picked it up and groaned again before going back to his textbook.

Keith finished up dinner, took a shower, and got ready for bed. By the time he got back out to the kitchen, Lance was still there, looking more frazzled than ever.

He patted Lance on the shoulder, giving him an earnest look. “Hey, don’t stay up too late. Sometimes sleep helps more than trying to cram everything the night before.”

“Thanks man.” Lance yawned as Keith walked to the couch to sleep.

When he woke up in the morning Lance slumped over the table, snoring softly. Keith shook his head. He grabbed his blanket and laid it over Lance’s shoulders, brushing some hair out of his face. He made some scrambled eggs and sausage and ate his portion before leaving the rest on a plate in front of Lance, then leaving for his second job as a personal trainer at the gym.

When Lance woke up, a smile spread on his face. You wouldn’t be able to tell from his pokey exterior, but Keith was actually really thoughtful. Lance devoured his breakfast and rushed off to campus, suddenly feeling much more confident about his midterms than last night.

~

Halfway through _Jurassic Park_ , Keith felt Lance’s head get heavier on his shoulder. He looked over and saw that Lance was fast asleep. He was starting to feel sleepy himself. He shifted into a better position so his legs were up on the couch and Lance was more propped up on his chest. He gently wrapped an arm around Lance’s waist and buried his face in his hair, breathing in the fruity scent of his shampoo. It wouldn’t hurt to rest his eyes for a bit. They’d wake up when the movie finished and actually sleep in their own beds (Well, couch for Keith).

Sunlight streamed through the kitchen window, rousing Lance and Keith from their tangled position on the couch. When they both came to their senses they jumped up, Lance apologizing for falling asleep on Keith and Keith saying it was fine. Both avoided eye contact as they got ready for the day.

~

Keith grabbed his helmet and bag from his locker at work. His feet and back were killing him. The bar had a special event that night which stayed late, and cleaning took even longer because of it.

He pulled his phone from his bag. Almost four in the morning. He groaned, it was too late to be awake. Suddenly he looked back at his phone when he realized there were a ton of notifications. Ten missed calls and even more texts. All of them from Lance.

Oh shoot. He had forgotten to tell Lance about the event and that he’d be out later. Knowing Lance he was probably sitting on the couch waiting for him to come home. Ready to scold him for not answering his phone and not telling him he would be out later.

When Keith arrived, he opened the door, ready for Lance’s reprimanding, yet worried voice. Instead he was met with the sight of Lance asleep on the couch, sitting up and facing the door.

He must have fallen asleep waiting for Keith to get home. Keith smiled softly, kicking his shoes off. He got ready for bed, then scooped Lance up from the couch and carried him to his room.

Lance woke up slightly when Keith laid him down in his bed. “Keith?” sounded Lance’s half asleep voice.

“Yeah.” Keith responded, pulling Lance’s covers up.

“Oh good.” Lance said, catching Keith’s hand as he was pulling away. “You’re home safe. I was worried idiot.” His eyes slowly drifted shut again.

“Sorry.” Keith whispered, sitting down and keeping Lance’s hand in his.

And they fell asleep, hands entwined.

~

When Keith woke up Lance was gone, which wasn’t unusual since he had class that morning. He got up and got ready for the day before heading out himself.

It was a slow night, so he got home from work earlier that night than usual. Maybe he could help Lance cook dinner for once, he thought on his way down the hallway.

He reached for Lance’s door and something happened that had never happened before. Lance’s door was locked.

Keith didn’t think too much of it. He was probably just out at a friend’s place or maybe he was grabbing takeout for their dinner. He pulled his phone from his bag and pulled up Lance’s contact, hitting call.

It went straight to voice mail.

That was weird. He tried again, but again it went to voice mail. His phone must be off. But again, that was really weird. Lance almost never turned off his phone. He tried one more time but to no avail.

Keith was starting to get worried. He hoped Lance was okay.

He tried knocking on Lance’s door, but there was no answer. Keith’s chest tightened, but he tried to shake it off. Lance was probably fine. He was just overreacting. There was no rule that Lance always had to keep his phone on.

He tried his own door and found it unlocked for once. Adam must have been over. Shiro was a lot more relaxed about locking the door when his boyfriend was there.

It looked like he would be sleeping in his own bed tonight.

Keith spent the rest of the night trying to shake off the feeling that something was terribly wrong.

~

For the next two weeks Keith slept in his own bed. Well, he didn’t actually do much sleeping. He mainly laid in bed wondering where Lance was and why he wasn’t answering his calls or texts. He took extra shifts at his two jobs to try to keep from worrying himself sick.

At the end those two weeks his eyes had permanent bags under them and he looked like crap. After his hundredth yawn, his boss sent him home early, telling him to get some sleep because he was obviously working too hard.

He climbed the stairs to his floor sluggishly, determined to try to get some sleep when he got to his room. He opened the door to his floor, and there he was.

Lance.

A suitcase sat in the hallway next to him and he looked even worse than Keith. His hair was unkempt, eyes puffy and red, and the way he held himself, he looked exhausted.

He was fumbling with his key, trying to unlock his door.

“Lance?” Keith practically whispered, slowly approaching him.

Lance looked up startled and dropped his key. Keith reached down and picked it up for him, looking up to see Lance quickly wiping his eyes and plastering a wobbly smile to his face.

“O-oh, oh hey Keith!” He said trying to sound cheery but failing.

Keith’s eyebrows knit together in concern. “Come on Lance. You don’t have to hide anything from me. Let me in. Don’t lock me out now.” He gently placed his hands on Lance’s shoulders.

Lance looked into Keith’s eyes with his big watery ones and couldn’t keep it in any longer. A sob ripped its way out of his throat and he threw himself into Keith’s arms.

Keith was startled, but only for a moment. “Hey, hey, it’s okay. Let’s get you inside huh?” He said as he rubbed Lance’s back soothingly.

Lance nodded into his chest. Keith unlocked the door with one hand as he continued rubbing Lance’s back with the other. It took a moment, but soon Keith was ushering Lance inside, dragging his suitcase in behind them.

He pulled him over to the couch and rocked him back and forth, holding him in his arms. When Lance’s sobs subsided a bit he sat back and rubbed circles on the back of Lance’s hands while he waited for Lance to collect himself.

Lance took a deep wobbly breath before starting. “I got a call from my family two weeks ago. My grandma was in the hospital and wasn’t doing well.” At this a little sob escaped him and Keith waited again until Lance could continue. “So I found a flight to Cuba that was leaving soon and rushed to the airport so I could get down there. I- I’m so sorry for leaving without saying anything Keith, and when I was down there my plan doesn’t cover international service, so I couldn’t call you to tell you what was happening. I’m so so sorr-”

“Hey, it’s okay. There’s nothing to apologize for. Family is more important. I’m just glad you’re okay.” Keith interrupted.

Lance shook his head, sniffing. “I’m not okay Keith. We…” Tears started streaming down his face, but he continued. “She didn’t make it. We just had her funeral before I had to come back up.” And he buried his face in Keith’s shoulder again.

They stayed like that for a long time. Keith not quite sure what to do to help Lance, so he just held him.

Finally as Lance’s tears dried, Keith decided it was time to get him to bed. It had obviously been a really hard two weeks for him, and he could use a long rest. They both could.

So he got up, pulling Lance with him. They got ready for bed, and Keith helped Lance under his covers, brushing his hair off his forehead before going to leave the room, when Lance’s shaky voice spoke up.

“Keith?”

“Yes Lance?” He turned back to face him.

“Will you… stay with me tonight?” His eyes looked at Keith pleadingly.

Keith wouldn’t have said no anyways.

“Of course.” He climbed into the other side of the bed, pulling the covers up and reaching out, letting Lance wrap his arms around his waist and burying his face in Keith’s chest. Keith brought one hand up to gently run his fingers through Lance’s hair.

Keith continued until Lance’s breathing evened out. Then he settled into Lance’s warmth and drifted off to sleep himself.

~

The next morning Keith woke up feeling more rested than he had for the past two weeks. He rolled over and reached out for Lance, but found nothing but blanket, though the spot Lance had slept in was still warm, so he must have gotten up recently.

Keith crawled out of bed and stretched on the way to the kitchen. Once out of the hallway he was greeted with the sight of Lance cooking pancakes. His hair was rumpled and he was still in his pjs, but he looked much better than last night.

Keith watched him silently for a moment, enjoying having him back after his two week absence, before moving into the kitchen to sit at the table.

“You’re looking better this morning. How are you feeling?”

“Oh Keith! You’re awake! I’m feeling much better…” After a moments hesitation he continued. “I- I still feel sad. I want her to be here, but I know she’ll still be with me. So… I think I’m going to be fine.” Lance smiled sadly, but there’s an aura of peace around it, so Keith doesn’t worry.

Lance was going to be just fine.

~

A few weeks later Lance was back to his old self, though he would get teary if he thought about his grandma for too long.

But that was okay.

It’s okay to miss the people that are gone. But it’s important to remember to keep moving forward and live your own life, keeping their memory close to your heart.

~

One night a while later they were in one of their normal movie positions with Keith’s head resting in Lance’s lap, who was playing with his hair. It was getting close to the end of the movie and Keith had dozed off.

Lance looked down at him, a look of adoration on his face as he smoothed the hair off of his cheek.

He thought back to the past few months that he had known Keith. He had become such a constant in his life that he couldn’t imagine not seeing him almost every day. While he had been in Cuba with his family, all he had wanted was Keith to be there. To comfort him with his stable presence that always seemed to ground Lance. It had been a while since he had returned, but as he looked down at Keith’s sleeping face, he couldn’t help but thinking about how nice it felt to be in his presence. He found himself feeling grateful to Shiro for having locked Keith out that day so many months ago.

“I- I think I love you…” He whispered.

Keith’s eyes shot open and he shot up from his position on Lance’s lap. “What?! What did you just say?!”

Lance let out a squeak of surprise, “I thought you were asleep! I- I wouldn’t have said it if I knew-” He grabbed a pillow and hid his face in it.

Keith slowly pulled the pillow away from Lance’s face. Lance didn’t resist. Instead he looked into Keith’s eyes pleadingly. Begging him to not leave him because of his dumb slip up.

“I just… I love our movie nights and when we go shopping together and I love when we cook together and I worry when you come home late and I get sad whenever you sleep at your own place and after the first few times you stayed here I started hoping you’d get locked out more so you’d have to stay here and I wanted to ask you on a real date but then the stuff with my grandma happened and I couldn’t and I missed you so much when I was gone and I can’t imagine not knowing you and not having you here with me and, and, and-”

He was cut off by Keith’s calloused hand coming up to cup his cheek. Keith leaned forward and pressed his forehead against Lance’s.

“I love being with you too. I barely slept when you disappeared and suddenly everything was better the moment you came back. I love our movie nights. I love when you run your fingers through my hair. I love when you open up to me and tell me things you don’t tell anybody else. I love _you_ Lance.”

And then soft lips were on his and he pulled Lance closer.

The kiss was soft and sweet and Keith breathed in deeply as they pulled apart, enjoying Lance’s fruity scent, foreheads still touching. Goofy smiles overtaking their faces.

“Maybe I really should give you the extra key to my apartment. You’ll never be locked out again.”

**Author's Note:**

> What's your best getting locked out story? Mine is when I accidentally locked myself and the kids outside while babysitting my cousins. Had to climb over a fence. Luckily they had a garage code so we got back inside.


End file.
